Card-indexing device



0. B. HIGDON. CARD INDEXING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19, 1920- Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

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CARD INDEXING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19, 1920.

1,359,990, Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

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Attorney.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORVILLE B. HIGDON, 0F WATERLOO, IOWA.

CARD-INDEXING DEVICE.

Application filed February 19, 1920. Serial No. 359,995.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, ORVILLE B. HIGDON, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of l/Vaterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Indexing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in card-indexing devices, and the object of my improvement is to supply in such devices for serially grouped and longitudinally approximated or partially overlaid cards, means for holding them flatly together, and also adapted to operate under certain conditions of actuation to support the cards in an upright position, loosely, for easy insertion or removal.

This invention also constitutes an improvement upon my card-indexing device patented August 21, 1917, No. 1,237,336.

The object referred to is accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig ure 1 is a plan view of a cabinet-drawer comprising and containing my improved card-indexing device; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are respectively vertical longitudinal sections of the device, taken on the broken lines 22, 33, and 4-4. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of the device with the card-containing drawer and its moving parts in open and expanded positions, and taken on the broken line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of a. portion of the open end of the compartment in the cabinet which receives the card-indexing drawer, and showing a part of the latter seated therein. Fig. 7 is a full size view of one face of a tabbed card such as is used in said device.

Similar numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views.

1 is a cabinet compartment with open front end, and contains adjacent its inner side walls upright track-rails 5 which form part of a longitudinally split tubular struc ture of which an upright part 3 is secured. as by spot-welding. to said inner wall. while its upper part 4 is spaced from, extends over, or overhangs the rail part 5 to serve as a guard or stop-member. Immediately be low the part 3 of said tubular structure. in each case. an angular hook 6 with inwardly bent end is pivotally mounted in a space 18 betweeen the compartment bottom 2 and its slde-wall.

10 is a cross-plate structure, each end of wh ch has a downwardly channeled rim 8 which may be slidably mounted on one of the rails 5 under the impending stop 4. Long tudinally arranged arms 16 are fixed on sald structure near each channel 8 and extend forwardly a distance therefrom.

The numeral 11 denotes a tray or fiat carrier-body, whose rear end is bent upwardly, scrolled, and hinged on a cross-rod or pintle 17 whose ends are mounted in openings in said arms 16. The forward end of the tray 11 1s bent upwardly at a right angle to serve as aclosure for the compartment 1, when the tray is closed thereinto. On-the middle of the forward face of this raised part of the tray'is a handle 30.

Referring now to Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive, the numeral 20 denotes a pair of side-bars positioned above the tray 11 near its side edges, spaced apart and parallel, and a plurality of similar bars are positioned at equal intervals between these side-bars, parallel therewith, all the bars being of the same length. These bars all have transversely alined pluralities of holes which are traversed by cross-rods 23, the latter being parallel, and the bars have horizontal ledges 28 below said rods.

The rods 20 with their ledges 28 and said plurality of cross-wires or rods 23 are rigidly connected and thus form a supporting rack for pluralities of overlapping cards 27.

For the purpose of illustration, 1 have shown a full-size card 27 in Fig. 7. The upper part of the card has side extensions 29 which, when the body of the card is inserted between two of the wires 23, rest upon the ledges 28.

Longitudinal bars 12 are fixed on the top of the tray 11 spaced from the side edges of the latter. said side edges being raised and then bent horizontally so that the horizontal parts which are alined with the channels 8 of the body 10 can be supported slidably upon the tracks 5 when within the compartment 1. The numerals 22 and 24 denote cross-plates whose upper edges are respectively pivoted at 21 and 25 to the forward and rear extremities of the outer rack-bars 20. The lower ends of the plates 22 and 24 are pivoted on cross-rods 19 connected between said raised bars 12. As the plates 22 and 24 are of the same width, when they are swung up or down, said card rack is kept parallel with the tray 11.

Connecting rods 13 have their rear ends pivoted at 15 to the forward extremities of the arms 16 and their forward ends are both pivotally and slidably connected to the forward parts of the raised bars or ribs 12-by pintles 14 inserted into longitudinal slots 26 in the latter, the rods 13 being downwardly troughed to ride upon said ribs 12.

The pintle 15 which pivotally connects the rod 13 and the arm 16 in each case, extends from the adjacent rack-bar 20. Because of this connection, when the tray 11 is in a horizontal position, as shown in Figs. 2 to 4 inclusive, the rack is collapsed upon the tray and the cards 27 are compressed in their overlapped relation closely between the cross-wires 23 and the upper surface of the tray so that the whole assemblage of these parts occupy but little space vertically and may be moved into or out of the compartment 1 without interference and so that the upper parts of the cards are plainly visible for reference.

Referring to said Fig. 5, it will be seen that when the tray is fully withdrawn from the compartment 1, the body 10 remaining in the compartment, and the tray is allowed to swing downwardly obliquely to the limit of its downward movement, the connecting rods 13 act to shift the rack members 20 upwardly, releasing the cards 27 so that the latter hang on their tabs or shoulders 29 on the ledges 28 loosely for easy removal or reinsertion.

The hooks 6 are swung upwardly when the tray is withdrawn, to engage end parts 8 of the body 10 and hold it within the compartment 1.

its rear end to a fixed support tobecome spread apart from said tray in parallelism when the tray is removed from said compartment and swung downwardly on its pivotal connection to said channeled body.

2. In a device of the character described, an open end channeled compartment, a mating channeled'body slidably and removably mounted therein, a tray pivotally connected to said channeled body, and a card-rack pivotally connected at its forward and rear ends to' said tray and pivoted at its rear end to said channeled body to swing away from said tray when the tray is removed from the compartment to hang angularly downward on its pivotal connection to said channeled body, said rack comprising a plurality of supports adapted to receive cards removably whereby the latter have their upper edges successively exposed in o\"erlappin relation, and said supports being adaptec to compress the cards flatly together when the tray is lifted, with its said pivotal connections to the rack collapsed, to permit the tray, rack and cards to enter said compartment without interference.

Signed at \Vaterloo, Iowa, this 4th day of Feb, 1920.

ORVILLE B. HIGDON. 

